Intel 330 120GB SSD review

Mainstream makeover must-have?

Performance boost

The headline sequential Read/Write performance figures Intel quotes are 500MB/s and 450MB/s, respectively. This is a little on the conservative side given the performance results the drive managed during tests. Running the ATTO benchmark it delivered a 551MB/s Read and a 505MB/s Write, which is pretty much what you’d expect from a SandForce powered drive. It's also very close to the 240GB 520 I’ve looked at previously – 552MB/s Read, 519MB/s Write.

ATTO test results

As the more demanding AS SSD and CrystalDiskMark benchmarks both use incompressible data – which the SandForce controller has difficulty handling – it’s no surprise to see the figures for both tests fall behind the ATTO results.

Even using Intel’s own figures, the 330 SSD is light years away from the previous generation. The 320 models were equipped with SATA 2 (3Gb/s interface) notching up 270MB/s Read and 130MB/s Write figures. Given the 320 series was launched in Q1 of 2011, it shows just how far the SSD technology has moved on in just over a year.

CrystalDiskMark and AS SSD results

Verdict

Intel has pitched the 120GB 330 SSD into the most competitive SSD market segment – covering 120GB/128GB capacities. While there are cheaper SSDs in this price range, many will re-assured by the Intel badge on the device alone. That said, the warranty has been pruned back to three years, which if you're prepared to make the sacrifice, does enable higher capacities to be more affordable. ®